Nightmares
The earth pony cast a glance over his shoulder nervously as they walked down the path… and then he winced as he looked up and saw a light in one of the half-collapsed towers, but Luna spoke without turning around: "Let not the false presences lure you, Scrivener Blooms. Turn thy head forwards: the sooner we cross the bridge ahead, the better." She stopped, then looked over her shoulder towards the mirror with a grimace, an ill feeling in the pit of her stomach. She had more than suspected that their home had attracted terrible specters, drawn by not only the removal of the Elements of Harmony but the defeat of Nightmare Moon. Twilight Sparkle, for all her magic training, had not noticed it… but to Celestia, it had been as clear as if the walls had been painted with blood; Nightmare Moon's hellish essence had been splattered throughout the castle with the violence of her defeat, and not a thousand cleansing spells or holy blessings would be enough to wash it away. Likewise, Celestia knew that going herself, she could have risked falling under the sway of the Nightmares' wrath. As terrified as they would have been of her, they would have been maddened with rage by the presence of the Princess of the Sun inside their night-worshipping home… and it was fear and hatred that often drove such creatures to commit their worst acts. So instead, like a hornet's nest, she had simply avoided the castle, leaving them alone so they would leave her alone… until finally, Luna had grown strong enough to do this task for her. Luna… and Scrivener Blooms, who was perhaps a more important part of the puzzle than Celestia had realized. The Nightmares had dragged both of them down into darkness, in order to try and feast on their negative emotions, in order to attempt to awaken Nightmare Moon and corrupt the earth pony: a less-desirable subject for their machinations, but made a slave to the essence of the Nightmares, he would still be able to spread malice and discord throughout Equestria. At the same time, however, the Nightmares would be at their most vulnerable: it would be a test of will against will, mettle against mettle. They would try and bend and break the ponies but they could also be tampered with themselves… and Celestia had truly found it difficult to avoid telling Luna what had to be done. Going in with that knowledge, the Nightmares may have read their thoughts and intentions, and instead of attempting to corrupt and possess they may have tried to work in other nefarious measures that would have made them harder to defeat… and given them a chance to get away. And Celestia wanted these blots of darkness, these creatures of the night, wiped off the face of the planet. She knew it was a risky gambit: if things did not go according to plan, if Luna gave in again… she would become Nightmare Moon once more, and Scrivener would be a puppeted vessel of darkness. Scrivener stared as a large, strange shadow slowly rolled forwards along the ground at the other end of the hall… before his eyes widened in shock as a figure faded into existence above it: a horse that seemed made of black smoke, limbs and tail and mane indistinct dark gases and yet the body and head almost solid, flickering only slightly as glowing red eyes formed in its sockets, its grinning jaws filled with ugly, sharpened teeth as it whispered in its strangely-feminine tones "And they can't stand sunlight, but as far as I can tell, it's still very deep and dark here." Scrivy paused after a moment, and then he said slowly: "Wait. There were four of them, right? Where were the other two, or were both attacking you?" "Nay, one Nightmare at a time will attack one soul. The other was standing guard over us, likely after scaring away poor Samael, and I dealt with it accordingly." Luna paused, glancing over her shoulder and saying kindly as the pseudodragon glanced up with an embarrassed chirp. "'Tis fine, my friend. They would have no use for thee, being… as thou are. I am only glad they did not destroy thee." Nightmares, siblings of a kind to Nightmare Moon and all other creatures of the shadow Luna's eyes widened… and then Scrivener reared back in alarm as the four Nightmares suddenly stepped forwards, lowering their heads as ephemeral hooves stomped against the ground and their manes exploded upwards like black flames as ghastly dark fire swarmed up over Luna's body, sending her staggering backwards with a shriek of pain and horror as her eyes glowed ivory, rearing back for a moment… and then she keeled over, collapsing heavily on her side with a gargle as Scrivener leapt over her with a horrified shout, Sammy shrieking as the pseudodragon ran in a desperate, terrified circle around the two before trying to scream a warning, Scrivy looking up too late- One of the Nightmares leaned down, grinning, inches away from his face and those soulless red eyes glaring into his, and the pony's eyes went wide before darkness rushed over him, knocking him staggering backwards with a howl of misery as pain flooded his system before a silky voice whispered in his ear: "In eternal night, we are strongest… the darkness fuels our powers, the shadows amplify our strength. You must let us in, Scrivener Blooms, it is true… but that does not mean we cannot turn your refuge into prison." And Scrivener gasped and trembled, fighting to stay conscious as black flames scoured his body before his eyes rolled up in his head and he fell still and silent, the gathered Nightmares laughing, the ponies laying wreathed in black flames as Luna convulsed weakly on the ground, the skeletal pseudodragon whimpering as it was crushed under the smoky hoof of the largest beast as they stood gathered around their fallen victims. "I will not allow thy poisonous words to sway and corrupt me again… I will not succumb to thee, and even less will I be touched by the words of what I know is nothing but a coward's mask! Reveal thy true face, monster!" Luna threw her head back with a snarl as her horn took on a brilliant sapphire glow, rearing back on her hind legs with a shout that shook the black air around her: "Show thyself!" A shockwave emanated through the air, knocking the four giants staggering before the moon above glowed, losing its ill yellow sheen as white radiance tore from the floating sphere like the birth of a sun, and there was a terrible scream as Luna gritted her teeth at the blinding light before she dropped forwards and blinked rapidly, her entire frame seeming to sizzle as she looked back and forth… but the four once-giants were now nothing more than crude, unpainted wooden dummies, enormous puppets with silver strings attached to them, laying on their sides and faces with splintered cracks here and there through the moldy wood. Some of the strings were still taut while others lay broken, silver and bright, holding limbs and bodies in awkward positions… and when Luna's eyes roved upwards, she saw they seemed to simply vanish into the night sky… but framed high above against the moon, one of the Nightmares was panting hard, her face contorted in agony as her smoky body slowly dissolved, smoke and steam hissing up off her as the light in her red eyes slowly faded. They looked at each other in shock for a moment, and then the Nightmare gave a curdled smile as she rasped: "Three of us still live, and we still have your friend under our power, Princess Luna… don't… think you've won just yet… even if… oh… oh sisters, I have failed…" And with a long, discordant wail, the Nightmare threw its head back as it began to fall out of the skies, rapidly dissolving before it could strike the featureless ground, and Luna wobbled on her hooves for a moment as vertigo tore through her before she flopped down on her side with a gasp as a roll of pain shot through her frame… but when she opened her eyes, she was back in reality It shrieked… and then the eldritch flames crashed into it and burst over it, consuming it in a matter of seconds in a terrible swathe of black and blue that burst quickly apart into nothing but ghostly smoke and ashes, and Luna dropped back down to all fours as the floating orb of light died out overhead. "To creatures of such black dreams, feeding off impassioned feeling… 'tis more real here inside our minds than 'tis outside, in the shadowy night's veil." these creatures can become invisible and weightless, flying as easily as any Pegasus would sail the skies Storyception <- Song of Melinda "Yes, but 'tis a rotten lie. Only the most foolish unicorn would believe that 'twould be a simple task of horsehair herbs and ash to bind down such deceitful entities… they are conniving vampires, demons that delight in manipulating ponies into following their dark desires. They feed and thrive off it." Luna muttered, shaking her head quickly. "Yet the Song does bear truth in its verses, too. They must be allowed into the heart of hearts to feed and do their damage… otherwise, the most they can do is put us to sleep and torment us, as thou hast experienced thyself." Thou cannot pass through stone nor metal "Know what? 'Tis not merely the shadowy darkness thou feeds from, but 'tis the essence of the night? And now thou art locked in true shadow, sealed beneath the earth, like the graveyard thou once rose up from? As the old legends say, the dead fear nothing… but the undead fear nothing more than being sealed back in their tombs." Luna said coldly, leaning towards the golden door, and there was a howl of misery from the other side of the vault "So… are they undead or demons?" "Who knows? All that is certain is they are terrible things, feeding off the pain of others… and so ethereal, so dependent upon emotion and thriving off the real or imagined agonies of creatures that imagined death and torture is oft more effective upon their cursed souls than true physical harm. Against these sad remnants, fear is the ultimate weapon… perhaps it is why to Nightmare Moon, drinking in the fear of others is also the ultimate delight." "But I do not believe Nightmare Moon was so simple a creature, either. Sisters, perhaps they were… but these arrogant creatures would see themselves as sister and kin to anything their equal or greater that lurks through the night." Category:Races